ROLLA, Mo. – After splitting their first four games of the 2022 Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule, the Missouri S&T baseball team will be at home once more this weekend, when they play host to Lewis in a four-game series at the Ballpark at S&T beginning Friday. This weekend, the Miner baseball program will celebrate the 10-year anniversaries of S&T's 2011 and 2012 GLVC West Division Championship and NCAA Tournament teams with a special recognition prior to the start of Saturday's doubleheader.
 
The Miners (13-8, 2-2) split their first weekend of league play with Truman State, taking games one and three by scores of 14-4 and 5-4 but falling in games two and four by finals of 10-8 and 8-5.
 
Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) enters the weekend as the team's leading hitter at .391 and blasted his third home run of the season and is up to 16 RBI with 20 runs scored and his hit safely in 10-straight games. Braden Mahurin (Dixon, MO/Dixon) continues to make his presence at the plate known, as he is batting .390 with two home runs and 13 RBI this season, and despite seeing his 11-game hitting streak end Saturday, has hit safely in 12 of 13 games this season. Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette) moved into the top spot in the team home run race over the weekend, leaving the yard for the fifth time and now has 11 extra base hits this season to sport a .685 slugging percentage with 21 RBI. Dakota Sill (Lansing, KS/Lansing) is coming off a terrific week at the plate, going 9-15 in the series with Truman, and is now up to .349 on the season with seven doubles, 26 runs scored and 15 stolen bases, all of which lead the team. Brady Voss (Lake St. Louis, MO/Liberty) sports a .323 average coming into the weekend and his 22 RBI lead the team while six of his 21 hits have gone for extra bases. Andrew Branson (St. James, MO/St. James), Tommy Ruether (Washington, MO/Washington) and Chase Burgess (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley West) are also regulars hitting over the .300 mark this season as well.
 
On the mound, Dylan Mollett (St. Louis, MO/Oakville) moved to 3-0 on the season with a win in game one and has struck out a team-best 32 in 25 innings of work. Cade Meier (Dakota, IL/Dakota) (2-1) took a hard-luck loss in game two of the series, but has a 2.60 ERA in 17 1/3 innings with 17 strikeouts and has held opponents to a .226 average. Ethan Morrow (Lenexa, KS/Shawnee Mission West) took a no-decision in his start, but tied a season-high six strikeouts in his longest outing of the year in five innings against the Bulldogs. Elijah Gross (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit West) picked up his first save of the season in game one and sports a 2.84 ERA in eight appearances and has 17 strikeouts in 19 innings of work while opponents have hit just .197 against him. Chasen Anderson (Moscow Mills, MO/Troy Buchanan), the team leader in saves with three, and Dylan Dunbar (West Plains, MO/West Plains) have each made seven appearances this season and have combined for 22 strikeouts in 21 2/3 innings. Freshman Jacob Cook (Chicago, IL/Minooka Community) earned a win in relief over the weekend in game three, striking out three batters in two innings of action and has worked 8 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts to his credit.
 
The Flyers (6-10-1) take on Purdue Northwest in midweek action on the road Wednesday before making the trip south to Rolla. Lewis split with Indianapolis at home over the weekend to begin GLVC action, falling in games one and three by scores of 8-1 and 5-3 but winning games two and four 6-5 and 8-3.
 
At the plate, David Ascencio leads the way with a .379 batting average, while David Fox has been one of the main run producers for the team, batting .333 with 17 RBI to lead the way along with eight doubles, a triple and one home run. Three players are tied for the team lead with two home runs, as Julian Everett (.140 BA, 13 RBI), Joe Preusser (.333 BA, 2 2B, 3B, 8 RBI) and Davey Fitzpatrick (.200 BA, 6 RBI) have all left the yard twice this season. Michael Alt's (.222 BA, 10 R) three stolen bases lead the team, as do his 12 walks. As a team, the Flyers are hitting .262 and are 13 of 19 on stolen bases this season.
 
On the mound, Lewis' rotation is headed by Johnathon Hansom, who enters the week with a 1-2 record in five games with a 4.50 ERA in 17 innings of work to go with 20 strikeouts. Jake Karaba has started all five games in which he has appeared this season and is currently 0-1 on the year with a 6.87 ERA and is second on the club with 24 strikeouts in 18 1/3 innings of work. Three other players have made multiple starts this season for the Flyers in the persons of Anthony Sorrentino (0-0, 5.00 ERA, 9.0 IP, 7 K) Michael Sclafani (0-3, 5.74 ERA, 15 2/3 IP, 15 K) and Ben Davis, the team leader in strikeouts and holder of the only complete game by the Flyers this season (2-2, 6.38 ERA, 18 1/3 IP, 25 K). Out of the bullpen, the Flyers have seven arms who have worked a combined 42 1/3 innings and posted a 1.48 ERA. Henry Schuler and Matt Helwig have yet to allow an earned run this season with the latter striking out 16 batters in 9 1/3 innings to go with a save.  Jake Lotz has worked 11 1/3 innings and made seven appearances and sports an ERA below 1.00 While Chad Cwik, Nick Huisman and Kyle Hussey have all been go-to arms this season in relief.
 
The two schools have met 14 times overall with S&T holding a 10-4 edge in the series. 2019 was the last time the teams met, with the Miners sweeping a three-game series and winning five of the last seven meeting going back to 2010.